The development of every animal in the history of the world began with a simple step: the fusion of a spermatozoon with an oocyte. Despite the ubiquity of this process, the actual mechanisms through ...

When sperm meets egg, the start of life is not quiet. Under a special microscope, researchers have watched a tiny light show at fertilization. They see a microscopic flash at fertilization, a burst of ...

Interacting proteins on the surface of the sperm and the egg have been discovered by researchers. These are essential to begin mammalian life. These proteins, which allow the sperm and egg to ...

The formation of a zygote via the fusion of an egg and sperm cell and its subsequent asymmetric division herald the start of the plant’s life cycle. Zygotic genome activation (ZGA) is thought to occur ...

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is a specialized form of in vitro fertilization (IVF) where a single sperm is injected directly into an egg. This technique is particularly beneficial for ...

Proteins on gamete surfaces are major determinants of fertilization success, particularly in free-spawning animals. Molecular analyses of these simple genetic systems show rapid evolution, positive ...

Some men produce too many sperms. That little-mentioned fact was the focus of my previous blog post. (See Why Too Many Sperms Spoil the Egg, posted on August 11, 2017.) With too many sperms, an ...

Some men produce too many sperms. That little-mentioned fact was the focus of my previous blog post. (See Why Too Many Sperms Spoil the Egg, posted on August 11, 2017.) With too many sperms, an ...